Uber puts another chip on the self-driving roulette table

Self-driving truck startup Waabi's billion-dollar fundraise (techcrunch.com/2026/01/28/waabi-raises-1b-and-…) isn't just about trucks.

The deal, for $750 million up front plus another $250 million from Uber tied to deployment milestones, marks a major expansion into robotaxis for the company founded by former Uber AI chief Raquel Urtasun. It also feels like another chip from Uber on the autonomous vehicle roulette table. With more than 20 AV partners worldwide, the question isn't just whether Waabi can deliver on its plans to deploy over 25,000 robotaxis, but whether Uber's bet-on-everything strategy actually works.

Today on TechCrunch's Equity (techcrunch.com/podcasts/equity) podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Sean O'Kane and Anthony Ha discussed Uber's AV partnership strategy, why Waabi's "simulation-first" approach might be different, and more of the week's headlines.

Listen to the full episode to hear about:

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Anduril's drone race recruitment (techcrunch.com/2026/01/27/anduril-has-invented…) stunt and whether it's the future of hiring or just good PR

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Phia’s $35M raise (techcrunch.com/2026/01/27/phoebe-gates-and-sop…) for an AI shopping assistant as brick-and-mortar (techcrunch.com/2026/01/28/allbirds-closing-las…) stores close (techcrunch.com/2026/01/27/amazon-is-closing-it…) their doors

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Northwood Space's $100M Series B (techcrunch.com/2026/01/27/northwood-space-secu…) and the booming space infrastructure market

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Who’s really winning in TikTok's messy US ownership deal (techcrunch.com/2026/01/23/heres-whats-you-shou…), and the competitors (techcrunch.com/2026/01/26/tiktok-alternative-s…) trying to capitalize

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The IPO window (techcrunch.com/2026/01/20/one-time-hot-insuran…) cracking open, and how SpaceX plans to go through it (techcrunch.com/podcast/the-spacex-ipo-could-fi…)

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

02:13 Palmer Luckey's bold recruiting strategy

04:04 Phia raises $35M for sustainable shopping

06:27 Browser extensions & the privacy problem

09:59 Northwood Space's $100M Series B & Space Force contract

12:17 The rise of dual-use space companies

14:01 Waabi's $1B valuation & beyond trucking

16:36 Uber's strategy: Betting on every AV partner

19:12 TikTok's US deal & immediate outage

21:46 TikTok competitors gain ground

24:03 IPO window opening: Ethos, Serve, and SpaceX

27:57 Will Elon actually take SpaceX public this time?

29:11 Outro

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube (youtube.com/@TechCrunch),Apple Podcasts (itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1215439780),Overcast (overcast.fm/itunes1215439780/equity),Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/5IEYLip3eDppcOmy5DmphC?s…) and all the casts. You also can follow Equity onX (twitter.com/EquityPod) andThreads (threads.net/@equitypod), at @EquityPod.

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